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There is truly only one way to purchase an outdoor lighting system – the same way you purchase a new car, take it for a test drive. When you are looking for a vehicle you can depend on; there are several steps that you take and they mirror choosing a lighting contractor too.

1. Research

You look into what type of vehicle you want and a reputable company to purchase from.

2. Evaluate importance

You select the exact feather that you want

3. TAKE IT FOR A TEST DRIVE

You want to truly picture yourself with the vehicle

4. Investment

This is a purchase that needs to last

Now, how does this equate to choosing a lighting company/design for you. Outdoor Lighting Perspectives can offer the same service, if not better, as purchasing a new car. Below is a list of how we make the process as smooth as possible:

1. Research

OLP provides a very interactive website, blog site, Facebook page, outstanding rating with BBB, and many other outlets to gather information concerning OLP. We also conduct free consults at your home so we can get a “real feel” for your project and allow you to ask us any questions you might have concerning your project.

2. Evaluating the importance

During our visit to your home we listen to the important aspects of your project – whether you want security or simple curb appeal. Make sure you articulate your concerns for the project and the trained designer will offer his suggestions (some you might not have thought about.)

3. Take if for a test drive

Even though you don’t drive lights it sure would be nice to see your home lighting design before you invest. Please ask for a night time preview or demo. This will allow you to see YOUR home with lights instead of looking at your neighbor’s home and imagining what your home would look like at night.

This process allows you live with your lights before you make the investment. You can walk up the drive at night with the lights, take a look outside your bedroom window while the temporary system is out – it simple lets you enjoy day to day activities before you invest in the system and company. (Again, free of cost to you – we want you to feel as comfortable with your decision as possible.)

4. Invest

Remember you are not investing in just a fixture but the whole lighting experience (Company, design, fixtures, install, warranty, and service follow up.) This is truly an investment and should be the last lighting system you have to purchase.

Lighting your home is an important home improvement project and should be taken as seriously as possible from the company you choice. This is an investment that not only you will be enjoying but your entire neighborhood.

These are snap shoots of a home during the demo process. You can see that you truly get to see the project – from how the path/steps will look, what will the trees look like with lights on them, and just exactly how the home can be illuminated.

I had the opportunity to visit a Williamson County residence the other day to discuss the home owner’s current outdoor lighting situation. The home owner was not pleased with their current lighting and wanted me give them a professional option. The homeowner had attempted to install / design the landscape lighting himself, a couple of times (I might add) and was ready to turn the project over to OLP.

He had a combination of many different types of fixture, including his second set of solar lights from Home Depot. I asked him why he went with the solar lights; his reply was “To be green.” During our consultation we discussed multiple options for lighting and finally landed on low voltage copper path lighting.

During our conversation we discovered that the Solar lighting option was “not so green.” Our discovery:

1. Both sets of solar lights ended up in the trash – probably in a land field somewhere. (This will probably be there long after us)
2. He had purchased about 20 of these lights which didn’t even carry a 1 year warranty – how many factory hours does it take to build products that fail that quickly??
3. The copper path lightinghe decided on is constructed from solid copper – which is a highly recycled element (and very sought after – recycle plants pay high dollar for copper)
4. This was the last lighting system he would have to install – it carried a 10 year warranty on the fixtures.
5. Conserving energy is a major part of “Going Green” – purchasing materials that will last and are manufactured with highly recyclable elements is just as important.

Going green with solar lighting can seem great on the outside but deep down you may be doing more harm than you think!

I hope all of you are doing well and slowly putting the pieces of your property back together after the storm and flooding. We are beginning to receive phone calls from past clients stating the flood waters have washed away their landscaping along with their lighting.

As we all know this is way down on the list of importance but we still want you to know that we are here to help put your property back the way it was before the storms. If your outdoor lighting system is gone or not working properly we will be happy to help service the system for you.

As one client has called in to let us know that his entire system has been washed way with the storm – we will be giving him a free assessment and reinstalling his entire system and honoring the original pricing for his job. Please give us a call if you have any questions and we will be happy to help in anyway to restore your property to its pre-storm condition.

We had the opportunity to teach a CEU credit course for the local ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) chapter here in Nashville on March 11th. We presented to a class room full of local interior designers and had a great response.

Our class is entitled “Go Green Save Green” and covers all types of interior and exterior light sources such as: Ceramic Metal Halideto LED. LED seems to be the growing trend of all light source and we are happy to share our knowledge of the new product. This class adds an added value to interior designers and landscape architect because we are nationally accredited and they can use this class as a continuing education credit. (1 hour course.)

I also wanted to thank Ms. Jones of Nashville’s ASID for presenting us with this opportunity to express our love and passion for outdoor lighting design and allowing us to educate others about lighting!

Social Media Marketing is the new wave of marketing and I witnessed it first hand just a couple of weeks ago. I recently opened a FaceBook account for our company just to have one additional outlet to keep Outdoor Lighting Perspectives in the public eye. Within two hours of posting our first pictures on the site I received a call from a local interior designer that writes her own blog about companies in our market. She noticed us on Facebook and wanted to feature our company in her next blog post – I was honored!

As I am driving back from the North Georgia mountains yesterday I had time to think about all the cold weather that we have had and thought to myself – “When is it ever going to warm up?” As I thought about that for a while I started to see signs that spring is on its way to middle Tennessee (I am not saying we don’t have some cold days ahead of us) but the “little things” that people do when warmer weather is approaching. Sometimes we are moving so fast that we don’t even noticed the small things like: the children starting to ride their bikes up and down the driveway, the next door neighbor pressure washing the patio, or even the way people interact with one another (usually the warmer the weather the friendlier the interaction!!)

As I drove I noticed that the traffic on the road was just a little heavier as I approached Nashville. It seemed as if people were starting to “wake up” from a long winters nap and start looking for an activity that would make them feel more involved with their environment. I stopped at a small convenient store, outside of town, and over heard two older gentlemen talking about the garden they were planting this year – they were sitting outside too! I saw two kids throwing a baseball talking about the up coming baseball sign up day at the school. All of this lead me write down a few things that I plan on doing to get ready for the much anticipated spring season:

1. Clean that patio off – I have let my patio become a collection of “STUFF.”

2. Cut and trim all the dead limbs of my trees – I want to get this done before all the leaves start growing back and I just bought myself a new chainsaw!

3. Buy that swing that my wife wants to put on our front porch

4. Hit the gym, ha!

5. Donate all the old summer clothes that I don’t plan on wearing this season – there are plenty of charities in need

….and the last item on my list is to “wake up” from my winter hibernation and get out and enjoy this beautiful home of middle Tennessee….

Spring really starts around March 20th but I’m starting now – Happy Early Spring Everyone…

I would like to say “thank you” for everyone who stopped by our booth at the Antique and Garden show on the 11th – 13th on this month in downtown Nashville. I hope that you had a chance to view our LED lighting in Paul Livelyand Todd Breyer’s gardens at the show. We are happy to announce that Todd brought home the best in show ribbon and I wanted to personally congratulate him! Also thanks to both Paul and Todd for allowing us to display our new LED lighting line in their beautiful gardens.

Here are some pictures from the show:

More show News….

If you missed us at the Antique and Garden show and would like to view our LED productsplease stop by our both at the Nashville Lawn and Garden show next week, March 3rd – 7th. We will have our booth as well as lighting in multiple gardens. Stop by to say “hello.”